Controls
The whole game runs on five inputs. The one most new players miss is that you hold Left Mouse Button to fill — clicking repeatedly does nothing — and that F teleports a full bucket straight to the drain instead of making you walk it back.
| Action | Input | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Move | W / A / S / D | Walk between the lake, the drain station, and the lobby stations. |
| Jump | Spacebar | Clear ledges and reposition on the shoreline. |
| Fill bucket | Hold Left Mouse Button | Hold — do not spam-click — with the cursor on the water. The bucket auto-fills and its reach is longer than it looks, so you can farm from the edge. |
| Teleport to drain | F | Warps a full bucket straight to the drain station instead of walking it back. |
| Interact / pour | E | Empty the bucket at the drain for Tokens, and use the Upgrade Computer, Bucket station, and Badges station. |
Your first run, step by step
Spawn puts you on the shore with the Wooden Bucket. Walk to the water’s edge and hold Left Mouse Button with your cursor on the lake — the bucket fills on its own. When it is full, press F to teleport to the drain, then E to pour it out. That pour is your first Tokens and your First Drop badge.
Now the loop begins. Keep filling and pouring, and after a few buckets walk to the Upgrade Computer to spend Tokens. Do not overthink the first purchases — put everything into Token Income, then Bucket Capacity. Bigger, more valuable buckets make every future trip pay more, which is the whole engine of the game.
The five-step loop
Once you are moving, every run is this cycle. The goal of upgrading is to make each step faster or more rewarding without adding downtime.
| Step | How | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Fill | Hold Left Mouse Button on the water | The bucket fills on its own while the cursor sits on the lake. Stand near the edge; the collection range covers plenty of water without wading into shark territory. |
| 2. Return | Press F | Teleport the full bucket to the drain station. Walking it back by hand is the single biggest time sink new players miss. |
| 3. Drain | Press E to pour | Emptying the bucket pays out Tokens. Deeper water pays more per bucket, so the same action is worth more the further you have drained. |
| 4. Spend | Upgrade Computer (Tokens) | Put Tokens into the Skill Tree. A good purchase makes the next several trips faster, bigger, or more valuable in a way you can feel. |
| 5. Go deeper | Cross the next checkpoint | Draining lowers the water and opens the next area. Each checkpoint becomes a respawn point and shortens the trip between water and drain. |
What to buy, in order
The Skill Tree at the Upgrade Computer has six branches, funded by Tokens. Exact node costs are not published, but the priority that experienced players agree on is clear: economy first, movement last. Buy the cheaper nodes in each branch before the expensive ones for the best value per Token.
- Token Income — cheapest nodes first, for the best value per Token
- Bucket Capacity — keep it climbing next to Token Income
- Quick Drain — once income is strong and pouring is the wait
- Diamond Rewards — if you want persistent Gems for buckets faster
- Character (movement) — last for most players; a little early only if your trips feel slow
The only genuinely disputed call is when to buy movement speed — most players save the Character branch for last because deeper water shortens the walk anyway.
Tokens vs Gems
Getting these two currencies straight is what separates a smooth run from a frustrating one. Tokens are your in-run fuel and vanish when the run ends; Gems are your permanent savings and buy the buckets that make future runs easier.
| Currency | Earned by | Spent on | Persists? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tokens | Pour full buckets at the drain station | Skill Tree upgrades at the Upgrade Computer | Reset every run — the game is run-based, so unspent Tokens do not carry between matches. |
| Gems | Open chests found in the water and claim Badge rewards in the lobby | Buckets at the lobby Bucket station | Persist between runs. Some guides call this currency "Diamonds"; it is the same persistent currency, and the Diamond Rewards skill raises how much you get. |
The six checkpoints to the phone
Draining lowers the water and opens the next area. Each checkpoint you cross becomes a respawn point and shortens the trip between the water and the drain, so progress speeds up as you go deeper. Buildings appearing around you — the Lost City ruins — are the community signal that the phone is close.
Surviving the Shark
The Shark patrols the open water in the deeper stages — around the Abyss and the final descent. It targets players working in the middle of the lake far more often than those on the edges. Drain along the shoreline. The bucket reaches well past the edge, so you can keep filling from safety while the Shark hunts the center.
Getting caught kills you and respawns you at your last checkpoint. You keep your Gems and unlocked buckets; only the current run is interrupted. The first time it catches you, you earn the Shark Bait badge (20 Gems), so a single death is worth banking. So the first catch is worth taking on purpose; after that, hug the shoreline and keep draining.
Recovering the phone
After the Abyss, drain the last of the water and the phone appears as a shimmering object on the lakebed. Interact with it to finish the game and earn the Find My Phone badge — the single confirmed ending. About half of all players who start draining make it this far, so reaching the phone genuinely puts you ahead of the pack.
